Genesis means ‘Beginnings’.Very appropriate!And this is where you
will find lots of the controversial bits:The Creation of the World, Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, The Great Flood, The Tower of Babel
etc.

These stories all occur right at the
very beginning of this first book, and if you have ever
wondered how it’s possible for some people to believe in creation rather than
evolution, come back later and click the link on the left.

However . . . let’s not get bogged down before we begin, because from
here on, most of what is referred to can be historically substantiated by archaeology as well as ancient
writings from other cultures.

The Book of Genesis is mostly
concerned with the account of how the
Jewish nation came into being, with the story of their three famous
patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.This lovely
narrative explains why the Jewish
people were called Israelites; how they came to live in the land of Israel
and the reason they became known as ‘God’s
Chosen People’.

However, before God’s people
settled in the land of Israel they all moved to Egypt
to avoid a famine.

Hence . . . by the end of the Book of Genesis we have the beginnings of a nation, but they’re
in the wrong country, added to which, the people later all become slaves!They need rescuing.And that’s where the next book comes in . .
.

Exodus means ‘Exit’ and this is the story of how the Israelites were brought out of Egypt
and taken back to Israel.In this book we find the famous story of Moses miraculously parting the Red Sea, leading his people on their
amazing escape from Egyptian slavery, then through the desert to Mount Sinai.(This, too, is a great story and over the
years it has become the subject of many movies.)

It was at Mount
Sinai that God gave his people (through Moses) the Ten Commandments as well as
instructions for making a mobile tent-like temple (The Tabernacle) which would become the centre of the Israelites’
devotion to God.

God also gave Moses a series of
rules and regulations (later known as The
Law) that would galvanise this bunch of raggle-taggle slaves into an
organised, cohesive nation of people.

The details of all these laws were written
down.And that’s where the next book
fits in . . .

Israelites’ journey
to

Mount Sinai

Click on map to
enlarge

The

Ten Commandments

What are they?

Click on the stone
tablets

3.LEVITICUS

This book contains The Law (all the rules and
regulations).It’s called ‘Leviticus’
because it was the Levites (the
priests from the tribe of Levi)
who were responsible for ensuring The
Law was upheld.

The Law was basically designed to keep the people focussed on God, to
keep them healthy, to keep them moral and to secure each person’s civil
rights.

The people were also
given an extremely interesting system of sacrifice,
which became an integral part of their life.

Sacrifice

Why would God want
his

people to kill
animals for him?

Click on the stone
altar

4.NUMBERS

How’s this for an
uninspiring book title?But don’t
worry.This book used to be called
‘Bemidbar’, a Hebrew word meaning ‘Away
in the Desert’, which is a far better description of what most of the
book is actually about.

Having been at Mount
Sinai for a whole year (while they were becoming re-acquainted with God and
getting organised after 400 years of slavery in Egypt)
the people were now ready to move on and continue their journey back to Israel (then called Canaan, or The Promised Land).

The book gained the
unfortunate title of ‘Numbers’ because the first part of it records the very
first census taken, plus the duties and job description of various people and
clans.But after that the book takes
over where the story of Exodus left off.

So (at Chapter 10, verse
11) the Book of Numbers goes on to tell the story of how a journey, that
should have taken them no more than eleven months, became an epic that took
them forty years!

Israelites’ 40-year
journey to

Canaan

Click on map to
enlarge

5.DEUTERONOMY

Forty ‘desert wilderness’
years later, the Israelites were almost back to Canaan,
and Moses, their leader, knew he would not be able to complete the journey
with them.

But before he left them,
he gave the people a series of three
talks, basically reminding them of two
things:

1)The amazing journey they had just made through the desert.A journey that had gone so badly wrong
whenever they disobeyed God; but how God had miraculously and abundantly provided
for them in the desert when they turned back to him and obeyed him.

2)Their Law.Moses cautioned
them that, when they were to get into Canaan,
and life would become easier and prosperous as they settled, they must not
neglect to keep the Law.

So, in this book we find
a sort of potted version of their history
and their Law as Moses
recounts the events.(Hence the name Deuteronomy which means ‘Second
Telling’).

MountNebo

Where Moses died

Congratulations!

You have just completed
the first section of the bible – The five books of the Pentateuch.

The Bible actually
becomes more fascinating as we move on, but before we continue, now is
probably a good time to quickly review just the Old Testament part of the Contents
Page (below) to see how far we have come, and where we go next.

As mentioned before, almost every
Bible is laid out the same way.If you
happen to have a Bible somewhere, dust it off the shelf, and compare your own
Contents Page to the list
provided.It will help you later to
find your way round your own Bible.

If you do not own a Bible and are
thinking of purchasing one, there are lots to choose from, and many are not expensive.Some translations are very easy to read and
understand, and some use a more academic language, but the story is always essentially the same.Any Christian bookshop will be able to help
you, or if you need a free Bible, email us on:camelride7@yahoo.com

For a quick run through the next
section, just click the button below.

PS:Another reminder . . . don’t forget to book-mark this website into your favourites, so that you can come back
easily at any time.